


Push And Pull

by Beserk



Category: The Boys (TV 2019)
Genre: AU: Becca Butcher Dies, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-01-18 16:24:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21279710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beserk/pseuds/Beserk
Summary: It never really bothered Homelander that he couldn’t have children. When Vogelbaum had told him, Homelander's reaction had been something like, "And…?" Because really, what was he going to do with a kid? Watch it cry?But when he heard that he'd gotten Becca Butcher pregnant, and that his son had died chocking on his mother's blood, he found a sickly feeling wind it's way inside of him. He wasn't pleased, or grateful that the child had died. He was disappointed, he was mad.
Relationships: Billy Butcher/Homelander, Billy Butcher/The Homelander | John
Comments: 63
Kudos: 610





	1. Chapter 1

It never really bothered Homelander that he couldn’t have children. When Vogelbaum had told him, Homelander's reaction had been something like, "And…?" Because really, what was he going to do with a kid? Watch it cry? Hand it over to Vogelbaum for dissection? He could tell that Vogelbaum was disappointed that he couldn't have a kid, and that was reason enough to be grateful that he couldn't.

But when he heard that he'd gotten Becca Butcher pregnant, and that his son had died chocking on his mother's blood, he found a sickly feeling wind it's way inside of him. He wasn't pleased, or grateful that the child had died. He was disappointed, he was mad. Suddenly, he wanted that child, wanted a continuation of his genes. The child was gone and there was no getting him back. But it did make him think.

He could impregnant people. Maybe it was harder for him then others (he'd never gotten anyone pregnant before Becca Butcher), but it was possible. It hadn't been his fault that his son had died, it was his mother's. Becca Butcher had not been strong enough to carry his child to term, and his son had suffered because of it. If he was going to have a child, a living child, he was going to have to find someone stronger.

Also, Becca had been a Beta. A Beta woman, so she could become pregnant, but a Beta nonetheless. Betas were less fertile then Omegas, and, unlike Omegas, didn’t usually have more then one child at a time. He needed to find an Omega, a strong Omega who could carry his children to term. And then, even if one or two died, he'd still have the rest.

That was where his thought process had ended before he landed on the roof of Madelyn's Stillwell's house to confront the man holding her hostage and smelled it. _Omega_.

It all came together so perfectly that Homelander thought the hand of God must have been in on it. Which made perfect sense. Why wouldn't God want to help Homelander? He was closer to him then Jesus had been. Homelander was the only one who could understand the kind of burden God was under.

Billy Butcher was a male Omega. It was so perfect Homelander wanted to laugh. There. He wanted a strong Omega? Billy Butcher was strong enough to kill a fucking supe. He wanted an Omega who could carry more then one child? Male Omegas, rare and precious as they were, were known to be able to carry up to six babies at a time. Even if four died, he'd still have two left over.

And Butcher was already wanted by the CIA, Homelander thought as he picked the slightly fussy Teddy up to carry him downstairs. It wasn't like it would be particularly hard to pretend that he was dead, that Homelander had been forced to kill him during this very home invasion. And then he would be his, and no one would come looking for him.

Teddy squirmed as Homelander carried him down the stairs, and now Homelander did laugh. It was almost like Butcher was handing himself to Homelander on a silver platter.

He walked into the living room, holding Teddy to his chest. There they were. Madelyn, shivering in fear, smelling of nothing in particular. And Butcher. Smelling so deeply of chemical suppressants that he must have been on them for years, but bellow that, just detectable to Homelander's super-human nose, a sweet and musky scent that made shivers go down Homelander's spine. He'd never met a male Omega before, or smelled one, for that matter. And Butcher smelled so differently from all the female Omegas Homelander had fucked over the years. Stronger, somehow. More present, like he was a force of nature rooted in place, something unchanging and nearly unstoppable. It made Homelander think of a story he once heard, of an Omega male who killed nearly a hundred Roman soldiers who came to his house in order to kill his sons, the heirs to some Germanic throne. The Omega had gone entirely feral, as if he were an Alpha, and destroyed so many of the enemy soldiers that his tribe was left alone for the next three generations.

He could easily picture Billy, growling and furious, protecting their children from Vogelbaum if he came to take them away.

He suddenly realized that Madelyn was talking to him, asking him to take Teddy back upstairs, please, please. But he ignored her, placing Teddy in the crib (he'd meant to use him to try and get Butcher to back down- he didn't think even he'd want a dead baby on his hands, but he really couldn't bring himself to care about Madelyn anymore) and taking a step towards Butcher.

"You're an Omega," He said gently. His first words to the man.

Give Butcher credit, he didn't flinch. Just stared at Homelander with eyes full of hatred, and watched. But Homelander could hear just the smallest flutter of his heart.

"I know, I know," Homelander waved a hand, and grinned at Madelyn. "He's using suppressants. For a long fucking time. No one can tell what he is."

Madelyn didn't seem to find the information as interesting as Homelander did, so he shrugged and turned back to Butcher, tapping his nose for emphasis.

"Superhero, remember? I can smell beneath it," He inhaled deeply and sighed. "Mmm, and let me tell you, pal, you smell _good_. Like really. Really good."

Amazingly, Butcher just kept on staring at him.

"Homelander, take Teddy-"

"Madelyn," Homelander snapped.

"Home-"

"Shut the fuck up!" He bellowed, turning to glare at her. "I'm trying to talk to my mate over here, please."

Madelyn's eyes widened, but Homelander was already turning away, back to Butcher. He smiled apologetically at him, which made Butcher narrow his eyes.

"Sorry about that," He said calmly, motioning to Madelyn and rolling his eyes. "Betas…anyway. Look. So. I know you're probably upset with me about Becca."

He watched Butcher carefully, but he really didn't get any reaction out of him. What the fuck?

"But," Homelander raised a finger. "I should point out that technically, I didn't actually kill her. See-"

"Wha-" Butcher stopped himself in the middle of his question, shook his head and seemingly forced his face back into blankness. But it was too late by now, Homelander had seen what he was trying to hide. Confusion and a bit of hope. And oops, that wasn't what Homelander had wanted him to think. He didn't want Butcher to think that Becca was alive, not for one second. It made a dark feeling curl inside of him. He didn't want Butcher thinking about Becca.

"She_ is_ dead," He said quickly, and this time Butcher didn't change his expression at all. That wasn't anything new to him. He already thought that Becca was dead. "But I didn't kill her. She died giving birth to my son, and then my son died."

And there it was. Butcher took a step backwards, his eyes growing wide. His heart rate was still completely steady, but there was something in his stance that made Homelander worry he was about to through himself out of the window.

"Homelander, what are you trying to do?" Madelyn whispered. She was looking at her baby, of fucking course, but still talking to Homelander. Which was really annoying. Homelander hated being ignored, even if he was only half ignored.

"Hey, Billy?" Homelander asked softly, taking a step towards Bu-Billy. He should call him Billy. Billy was going to be pregnant with his kids soon. First names seemed appropriate. "How long has it been?"

Billy just stared, the finger holding the detonator shaking slightly. Other then that, there was no bodily changes to show he was scared. But he was scared. Homelander knew, somewhere deep down inside of him. The Alpha part of him that could read the Omega in front of him. And the Omega in front of him was fucking terrified.

"How long has it been since you had an Alpha? Or since you had a heat?" Homelander tilted his head. "You smell like it's been a long, long time. Don't worry, buddy. I'm going to make you feel so good-"

Billy growled, and moved. His thumb started to move up from the detonator, but Homelander, paying close attention to his every movement his Omega was making, caught the movement in time. He rushed forward, grabbed the detonator from Billy's hand and crushed it under his fingers.

Oh, fuck. Being this close to Billy was doing _things_ to his downstairs zone. Things like making his dick pop out and his knot quiver in anticipation. Billy smelled even better from so close, and he felt good against Homelander's skin as he pulled him against his chest. He felt right, like he belonged there. And Homelander never wanted to let him go.

He placed his hand over Billy's mouth and pinched his nose closed. Billy tried kicking him, and pulling his hands off his mouth, but before long he grew limp and still in his arms. Homelander took his hand off Billy's mouth as soon as he lost consciousness and caught his body as it began to tumble to the ground.

"What the fuck are you thinking?" Madelyn screamed as Homelander looked down at the body in his arms. The pretty body in his arms. Billy didn't look at all like the stereotype of an Omega male: soft, gentle and beautiful. Billy was beautiful, but he wasn't soft or gentle. Not even fucking close. But Homelander didn't want soft and he didn't want gentle. Who the fuck did? Billy was like a Greek statue brought to life, body chiseled and strong. It was much better than dandy and sweet.

"Hmm?" Homelander asked, distracted, as he hoisted Billy up and flung him over his shoulder, placing a hand on his ass. He swallowed at the feeling under his palm. Fucking hell, Billy's ass was the one part of his body that was soft. Homelander could imagine his dick being buried into that ass and God-he shivered.

Madelyn jumped off the chair, throwing the bomb jacket on the floor, which seemed a bit dangerous but Homelander supposed she was in a bad mood.

"Why did you bring Teddy down here?" Madelyn demanded, rushing over to her son and picking him up. "Why would you_ do_ that-"

"Does it matter?" Homelander asked dryly, running his hand down Billy's spine. Hmm. He could imagine that spine curving while he pounded into that body, quivering with want. "Everything is fine now."

Madelyn glared, and then took a deep breath, "You're taking him to the CIA, right? It will look very good for us-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Homelander scoffed. "Weren't you paying attention? He's going to be my Omega."

They stared at each other for a few moments. Homelander with his head tilted waiting for Madelyn to explode, and Madelyn glaring, waiting for him to tell him that he's joking. When he didn’t…. she exploded.

"Are you _fucking_ _kidding me_?" Madelyn screamed. "You're going to do _what_? You can't, you fucker-"

"All right, deep breathes," Homelander raised a hand, trying to placid her. "I know you don't like this idea-"

"Is that what you think?" Madelyn sneered. "He's a terrorist who killed supes. He killed Translucent, remember him? And you want to give him your child. Do you have any fucking idea how fucking badly this could end? Since when do you even want an Omega? And if you want one, can't you pick a different one?"

"Find me another male Omega like this one and sure, I'll take him," That was a lie, but Homelander ws confident enough that Madelyn couldn't find someone like Billy that he felt entirely safe issuing that challenge.

As he expected, Madelyn sneered again but didn't say anything.

"Right, exactly," Homelander nodded. "You can't. Billy is one of a kind."

"I-" Madelyn shook her head. "If you want a child, we can find a way to get you a child. And if this is about Becca Butcher, then I'm sorry. I know we should have told you about her and the child's death. But this…this is not the way to get back at us. We can figure this out, together-"

"We're always fucking figuring it out together," Homelander mumbled. "But in the end, it's like getting us into the military. Who ended up actually getting us into the military? That would be me, alone. How about that?"

He was quite satisfied to see Madelyn's reaction. She grew pale and tightened her hold on her son, snapping, "We would have gotten in anyways. Your decision to create the supe-terrorists was unnecessary and could end up hurting us in the long run. What if they're too powerful to defeat-"

"Madelyn," Homelander sighed. "I'm getting sick of this conversation. I need to get to Vogelbaum. Don't worry about the terrorists, no one can ever be more powerful then me, ok? Put your kid to bed, I'll see you soon."

*

"What the _hell_-"

"It's good to see you again, too," Homelander said dryly, depositing the still unconscious Billy on the bed, which Vogelbaum was scrambling out of.

"John," Vogelbaum cleared his throat, trying to compose himself. It wasn't working. Well, to be fair, no one but Homelander would have been able to tell that he was nervous. But Homelander _was_ Homelander, and Vogelbaum _knew_ that Homelander was Homelander, so he wasn't fooling anyone here. Vogelbaum was nervous by Homelander's sudden reappearance in his house. There. That was all there was too it. "What are you doing in my bedroom with…an unconscious body?"

"Not just any unconscious body," Homelander replied, carefully pushing some of Billy's messy hair out of his eyes. "This is Billy Butcher."

"Becca's husband?" Vogelbaum made his way over to Homelander and looked down at Billy's body.

"The same," Homelander grinned. "He's an Omega."

Vogelbaum twitched and looked up at Homelander, "Is he."

"He's been using suppressants for a very long time," Homelander said and sat down on the bed, pulling Billy's head onto his lap. "I want you to get him into a heat."

"And why-"

"I think you can figure it out," Homelander replied dryly.

Vogelbaum took a deep breath, "Is there any way I can convince you not to do this?"

Homelander hummed, then shook his head, "No. I don't think so."

That made the old fucker nod slowly and then sigh, "Pick him up, let's get him into my lab."

*

"This will keep him asleep until he goes into heat," Vogelbaum said, inserting a syringe full of fluids into Billy's arm. He took the needle out carefully and place it on the side, picking up a second syringe and showing it to Homelander. The fluids in that one were red with bubbles going up and down. "And this will trigger his heat."

"Right, inject him, then," Homelander said eagerly.

"John," Vogelbaum said quietly. "He hasn't had a heat for years. If he gets one now, it will be incredibly powerful-"

"So there's a better chance that he'll get pregnant?"

Vogelbaum sighed, "Yes, that as well. But also, it can be dangerous. He's going to get incredibly desperate, and could hurt himself if he doesn’t get what he needs."

Homelander snorted, "Don't worry, he’ll get it. Where should I take him?"

"Somewhere that's full of your scent, if you want him to want you."

So, his Vought apartment, then. Simple. Homelander nodded and said, "Ok. Inject him."

"John," Vogelbaum said, and Homelander almost groaned out loud. His voice was soft and calm, which was not good because that usually meant he was going to try and stop Homelander from doing what he wanted. Man, Homelander hadn't heard that voice since he was, what, twenty? "You know, there is a very small chance that this will work. Becca Butcher was a…I don't even know how it happened. It just-it just did. There is no way to know if it will happen again."

"Just inject him," Homelander snapped.

Vogelbaum sighed deeply, sounding ridiculously disappointed in him, and then carefully injected Billy.

They were ready to go.

*

It burned. Burned deep, deep inside of him. He groaned and shifted, trying to elevate the fire. It didn't hurt- that would have been bloody easier. It was just fuckin' _burnin_'.

Billy shivered and rubbed his eyes. There was no fuckin' way this was what it bloody felt like. No fuckin' way. He'd taken the bleedin' suppressants, he took them every month. Besides, it's been dog years since he had a heat. He wasn't even sure he remembered how it bloody felt.

He managed to open his eyes and looked around. The bloody hell was he?

There was a mattress under him. A soft mattress. He could feel it under his skin, scratchin' him. Why was it scratchin' him, if it was soft? Billy groaned. He knew why, he'd been here before.

"Bloody fuckin' hell," Billy gasped, shovin' himself up into a seated position. There was a blanket over him, and it hurt, scrathin' into his over-sensitive skin, so he shoved it off and-

He was bloody naked. Entirely, completely, naked. He was bloody naked, sitting on a bed _goin' into heat_.

Billy groaned and took a deep breath. And then he froze. As he took a deep breath, a certain scent invaded his nose and mouth. It was a bloody hard smell, rough and strong, and washed over his entire body.

Alpha.

Billy placed a hand on his mouth, trying to stop the moan from spilling out of him. Bloody hell, it smelled _good_. Fuckin' magnificent. He wanted that smell, wanted to wrap himself in it, bloody _drown_ in it. Shite-shite-shite-shite. He needed to get out of this room right away, before he could stop thinkin'.

Tryin' to get up from the bed, Billy's legs buckled under him and he went tumblin' to the floor. Billy groaned, feelin' a mist start envelopin' his mind. It was a mist that was speakin', screamin' out to him _Alpha, Alpha, Alpha_. If he couldn't get away from that bloody scent soon, he would never be able to. He won't bloody want to.

Billy tried movin' again, pullin' himself up into a seated position. His head was poundin', his body was shiverin', there were goosebumps apearin' on his skin, and-

Shite-_shite_-shite-_shite_.

Heart poundin', Billy moved his shakin' fingers down to his legs, and when he pulled it back, he found they were full of white glistenin' slick.

Billy was so fuckin' fucked.

*

Homelander was finding it incredibly difficult to stay outside of the room. He could smell Billy inside, going into heat. Fuck, he smelled amazing. Every thing inside of Homelander was screaming out to him to go in there and take the Omega. He had to physically hold himself back to fight the Alpha instincts rumbling inside of him. But he wanted to wait, until Billy was desperate for the Alpha whose smells were enveloping him and his mind was too muddled to fight Homelander. He didn't feel like doing that right now. And besides, they were going to share children, their first time shouldn't be a fight.

And then he heard it: Billy's horrified scream. Ah. There it was. Homelander grinned and stood up from where he was sitting with his ear to the door, and walked in.

*

God, he was fucking beautiful. Laying there on the floor, his back leaning against the wall, legs splayed open. There was slick oozing out of him, trickling into a puddle between his legs. He was gasping, his head thrown backwards, exposing his long neck and Adam's apple. Homelander shivered, watching the area on Billy's neck where the bonding nerves were. There were no scars there. Not that that said much. Billy could have had an Alpha that just choose not to mark him. Some Omegas didn’t want to be marked. And Billy certainly looked like the type that would find the idea of being marked insulting. It was, after all, a sign of ownership.

Homelander was going to mark the fuck out of him.

He growled and loomed over Billy, leaning his palms on the wall above him to give him support as he leaned down to press his nose against Billy's neck. Homelander groaned and whispered, "You smell _amazing_."

Billy whimpered, curling his hands around Homelander's neck, trying to force him closer, and when Homelander didn't move fast enough he growled, angry and primal, and shoved himself up, launching his body against Homelander's chest.

Fuck it.

Homelander grabbed Billy's wrists and pulled him away from his body so he could stand up. He let Billy launch at him, wrapping his legs around Homelander's hips. Homelander leaned his back against the wall and ducked in.

Billy met his mouth with his own, opening his lips and letting Homelander's tongue enter his mouth. Their kiss was rough and hard, both using their teeth and biting into each other, Billy grinding into Homelander's cock with his ass. It was a fight for dominance, and Homelander wasn’t entirely sure he was winning. He seemed to be moving with Billy, giving him what he wanted instead of asserting his own desires.

"Oh, fuck," Homelander gasped at the feeling of Billy's ass against his dick. It was already rock hard, and the slick that slipped out of Billy's ass and wetted Homelander's pants was not helping the situation. "God, Billy-"

"Shut it, _shut it_," Billy snapped, eyes blown with lust. "Gimme your knot right bloody now or I'm fuckin' right outta here."

Homelander grinned and shoved away from the wall. He placed his palms on Billy's ass cheeks and started walking towards the bed. As he walked, he slipped his fingers closer and closer to the opening where all the white slick was coming out of.

Billy let out a series of cockney curses when Homelander's thumb finally slipped past the rivers of slick and entered his open ass. Billy's flesh closed over Homelander's digit, engulfing it in a wonderful warmth that felt so _amazing _Homelander whimpered in pleasure.

They finally made it to the bed, and Homelander threw Billy down on it, climbing over him and pining his wrists over his head. Billy growled again, thrusting his hips forward. He was twisting in Homelander's hold, straining his arms as he tries to make his way up towards Homelander's mouth. The skin on his wrists was stretching around Homelander's fingers, and then broke. Small trickles of blood oozed down and Homelander remembered what Vogelbaum had told him, that Billy could get violent if he didn't give him what he needed.

So. No foreplay, then.

He took hold of Billy's shoulders and flipped him over, thrusting Billy's ass into the air. He gulped, watching the slick slipping out of Billy's ass and into the mattress. The smells were overwhelming him, making it impossible to think clearly. Billy smelled…he smelled like _home_.

Or at least what Homelander imagined a home would smell like.

"Oh, baby," Homelander groaned as Billy thrust his hips forward. "I'm going to make you feel so good, you'll see. Fill you up with my dick, tie you to me with my knot, pump you full of my babies."

Billy made a sharp keening noise, like a wounded animal, and turned his head to the side, looking Homelander in the eye. Homelander shuttered. There was absolutely nothing in those eyes but pure, animalistic lust. He needed Homelander, right now. Homelander didn't think that anyone had ever needed him so fucking much.

The people who he saved needed him to protect their lives. Billy needed him to protect his sanity, and that was so, so much better. It was intoxicating.

Suddenly unable to hold himself for even a second, Homelander surged forward, grabbing Billy's ass cheeks and spreading them. He could now see Billy's anus, the slick gushing out of him and down to the mattress. He growled, positioned his dick, and slipped in.

*

Homelander had known that it would feel good, of course. All Omegas in heat felt good. You could go in deep with them, and you could knot them. And knotting felt better than almost anything else in the world. Only killing could compete with knotting in regards to the adrenaline rush it gave you.

But Billy Butcher…being inside of him, Homelander thrusting hard and deep, over and over again, tying him in place with his knot, pumping him full of his semen, it wasn't the same as all those other Omegas. Billy was different, Billy was better. Billy fit around Homelander's dick like his suit fit for around his body. That is, like he was made perfectly, and with only Homelander in mind. And, even better, Homelander fit inside of Billy. He could tell by the gasping and whimpering and lustful groans that were coming out of his mouth. Billy was made for Homelander, Homelander was made for Billy.

Billy was shivering, and Homelander sighed deeply as he felt his knot go down. And then Billy twitched violently and shuttered. His body was relaxing, slumping into the bed, and Homelander frowned, sniffing the air.

Something had changed, Billy's scent had shifted somehow. He no longer smelled like he was in heat. He smelled like-

"Oh, Billy," Homelander whispered. "Oh, baby boy, it worked. You're gonna have my kids."

And Billy turned around, still implanted on Homelander's knot, and punched him in the mouth.

It was going to be an interesting nine months.


	2. Chapter 2

The first baby came out dead. He was covered in Billy's blood, his umbilical cord wrapped around his throat. There was no heartbeat, no breathing. He was dead.

"Give him here," Billy gasped, trying to scramble up and get to their dead son. "Give him-"

"He's dead," The doctor said quietly (Homelander hadn't allowed Vogelbaum into the delivery room. He fucked up with Becca, Homelander wasn't letting him anywhere near his mate, too), looking up at Homelander with fear in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Home-"

"Get the rest of them out," Homelander snapped. "I can hear them, there are still two of them-"

"Three," Billy shook his head, eyes wild with fear. Homelander tried caressing his hair, to calm him down, but Billy jerked away, the fury exchanged with hatred for a moment. "There are three left, you fucker."

"Another one of them is dead," Homelander said, and winced when Billy flinched in horror. Well. That had not been as tactful as it could have been. Oops. "I'm sorry, Billy, but I can only hear two heart beats left."

Billy shook his head, scrambling away from Homelander and the puddle of blood on the sheets. He gasped and buckled forward in pain as another contraption shot through his body.

"Billy," Homelander grabbed the Omega's arm and pulled him over to him. He got on the bed and leaned against the headboard, wrapping his arms around Billy's waist to keep him in place. "You need to get our babies out before they die as well."

Billy shook his head, "They all dead-"

"No, there are two alive," Homelander whispered, kissing the side of Billy's head. "Come on, baby, you need to be strong now, and help them. They need you."

Billy whimpered as the doctor spread his legs and said, "Come on, Billy, push. Your babies need you."

Billy grit his teeth, his heart beat so fast it was almost impossible to hear. And then he screamed, and pushed.

*

Homelander looked down at the tiny little closed coffins. He could see two of his sons laying there, dead and gone. It had been around an hour since all four of the babies had been born, but Homelander had left Billy in a locked, windowless room with the two living children while he dealt with Vought, Vogelbaum and the dead children.

Billy had been crying, clutching the living children to his chest, and to be perfectly honest Homelander really didn't feel like dealing with an emotionally compromised Billy. It was a new experience for him. Usually, no matter what was going on around him, or inside of him, the only emotion Billy allowed himself to express was fury. And fury was easy to handle. You just wrapped your arms around him and shushed until he exhausted himself. And then you fucked him until he was screaming and withering under you, his anger forgotten. Simple and straightforward.

Grief through…Homelander had never felt grief in his life. He had no idea how to handle it. And it made him feel so weird, watching Billy hiccup and cry, beg for the bodies of useless, dead babies not to be taken away from him. Homelander didn’t want to stay and try and understand it, any of it. He didn't want to understand why Billy cared about dead bodies, and he didn't want to know why he cared that Billy cared.

Out here, though, Homelander didn't have time to think. There was Stillwell to deal with.

"Where are they?" Madelyn asked as she came storming in with Vogelbaum. "I heard two lived, where are they?"

"Resting with their mother," Homelander replied. "And you're not going to see them."

Vogelbaum shook his head, "John, you can't leave Butcher alone with them, we don't know how powerful they are, what they can do, they may end up killing him."

Homelander sighed deeply, caressing the coffins, "They're not going to hurt their own mother, Vogelbaum. And I will not let you put them in a cage like you did with me."

His children were going to have the best, most beautiful childhood ever. He remembered what Vogelbaum had said, about how dogs raised without their mothers became vicious. Well, to be fair, _he'd_ turned out fine. But he wasn't going to risk it with his babies. They were going to have their mother.

Vogelbaum flinched, "I never said that. All I meant-"

"All you meant," Homelander turned his head slightly to glare at Vogelbaum. "Is that you want to control my children."

"I want to make sure the world is safe," Vogelbaum replied shaprly. "And if they're as powerful as you, then it might not be."

"You said," Homelander glared. "That I should have been raised by a family that loved me. Well, be proud of me, I'm taking your advice. How's that? Now, if you'll excuse me, I have kids I need to meet."

"Homelander, just a moment," Madelyn took a step forward, but Homelander just waved her away and walked towards the locked door. He took a deep breath and walked in.

Billy was laying down on the bed, arm spread out to cover both of the sleeping babies. He was watching them, eyes moving back and forth between the two children. He didn't look up when Homelander came in, so Homelander leaned against the wall and watched his family silently for a few moments.

First, he looked at the baby girl. She'd been dressed in a white onesie and a pink, fluffy hat that covered her tiny ears and forehead. Laying right next to Billy, the girl's mouth was slightly open as she breathed in and out. She was the smallest of the four, but the doctor had assured Homelander she was still healthy and would grow quickly.

The boy, laying next to her, had a blue onesie with red dinosaurs on it. He didn't have a hat, and Homelander saw, pleased, that he was blond like his father. The boy was much bigger than the girl, and was clutching Billy's thumb with his hand, tight enough that Homelander could see Billy's skin reddening.

Billy himself looked absolutely drained. Someone had helped him shower and dress, and he was now in a long red gown that looked as fluffy as their daughter's hat and was probably easy to put on and off. His eyes were red from tears and kept drifting closed, but he blinked and shook his head, forcing himself to stay awake as he watched over their children.

The entire scene made something odd curl inside of Homelander. Unsure of how to deal with the strange emotion, Homelander elected to brutally shove it down.

"Billy," Homelander whispered. God, Billy smelled amazing. He smelled like sweet milk and warmth. It wasn't, actually, smells that were meant for his Alpha. Most wouldn't have been able to scent it, they were for the babies. Homelander could, though, and he was glad he could. It made him relax almost in spite of himself.

The black-haired man turned his exhausted eyes towards Homelander, and they hardened.

"You ain't takin' them from me," He growled, body curling over the two sleeping babies. "You try and-"

"No one is taking them," Homelander replied quickly. "They're going to stay with us, forever. I swear."

Billy just hissed, curving his back like a fucking cat ready to attack. Homelander wasn't entirely sure how the man had the energy for these kinds of movements, but he'd learned during the past nine months to never, ever underestimate Billy. It didn't matter how tired or swollen from pregnancy he got; Billy would still put up a ferocious fight whenever Homelander tried to fuck him. There was no reason to expect it would be any different now.

"Billy, I swear, no one is going to touch them, I swear we're going to keep them safe."

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Billy gave a sharp nod and withdrew to the head board, taking the babies with him and pressing them to his chest.

"Where are they?" Billy asked suddenly.

Homelander frowned, wondering if maybe birth made Billy's brain…. scramble a bit? Who the fuck was Billy talking about?

"Where are…who?" Homelander asked.

"Who the bloody hell do you think?" Billy nearly yelled, and Homelander looked down at the babies with alarm. If they started crying now, he was fucking leaving. He didn't have the energy to deal with this shit. "The basins."

Basins meant babies, Homelander had learned_ something_ over the last nine months.

"Ah…right there," Homelander pointed at the two babies.

"The other two," Billy sneered. "The dead ones."

Oh. Shit.

Homelander shook his head and said, lowering his voice to a gently, "Billy, you don't need them. Just…we have these two, we don't need-"

"I want to see them," Billy replied stubbornly. "I want to know where they are."

Homelander rolled his eyes to the ceiling, "God give me strength. They're just outside, all right? In nice little coffins. You can see them later. But right now, I need you to focus on these two, ok? They're the ones that need you."

Billy jerked his head and looked down at the baby boy in his left hand, "Later."

"Later, I promise," Homelander replied.

Billy bit his lip, and Homelander was taken aback when he smelled tears in the air. Billy was trying to stop himself from crying. Homelander frowned. What was wrong? They had a living kid for every dead one, it seemed a good outcome for Homelander.

"And we need to name them," Homelander grinned and bounced on the bed. Billy just glared at him. "So, the boy needs to be John."

"Why?"

Homelander shrugged, "I like the name."

Billy looked up at him, eyes narrowing, and replied, "Right."

There were a few moments of awkward silence as Billy stared at Homelander, clearly trying to read something in Homelander's eyes. But then he scowled, like he couldn't figure out what he'd been trying to figure out, and looked down at the girl.

"If he's John, then she's Rebecca."

"No," Homelander replied immediately. Was Billy _trying_ to get him angry? "Absolutely-"

"Why not?" Billy's eyes flicked up to Homelander. "She's dead, ain't she? You scared of her?"

"What kind of stupid-" Homelander caught himself as he started hovering in the air, eyes glowing red. He took a deep breath and collapsed back into the bed. "I'm not scared of anyone, anywhere. You should know that by now."

"Right," Billy nodded and leaned down to kiss the girl's head. "So, Rebecca it is."

God fucking damn it. And Homelander had thought all the fight would go out of Billy once he'd given birth. He really should have fucking known better. 


	3. Chapter 3

The baby stared at him. Homelander stared back. The baby kept on staring at him. Homelander kept staring back at her. Her eyes went red.

Homelander just managed to put his hand up to stop the laser from hitting his forehead.

Behind them, Billy laughed, sounding incredibly pleased with himself.

"Shut up," Homelander growled, and took a step towards his daughter. Becky blinked up at him, then put her entire fist in her mouth. She tended to do that a lot. It was a neat trick, if a bit overplayed. "It's not funny, that was dangerous-"

"Oh, you scared of a little basin, big strong Homelander?" Homelander looked away from Becky to see Billy smirking at him, evilly. He was walking up and down the length of the room, burping Jack, and Homelander wanted to throw the baby off him and shove him to the ground, force that fucking _smirk_ off his face.

"Billy, if you were stranding there, you would be dead now," Homelander looked down at his hand, which was quickly healing. He was exaggerating, Becky and Jack's lasers weren't that strong yet. It still would have burned the shit out of the Omega's pretty face, though. Which would be a fucking shame.

"That so?" Billy let out a scoff as Homelander smelled Becky poop. Fucking dammit. He was going to have to leave now. There was a lot he could take, but the babies' diapers weren't one of them. It didn't used to be a problem, but now that they'd started eating solid food, their poo stank like nothing else in the world. "Don't think so. See, they only ever do that when you're here."

"What?" Homelander snapped, and took a step towards Billy and Jack. He was lying, wasn't he? Why would he say something like that?

"They ain't like this without you here," Billy repeated, then walked over to place the nearly-sleeping Jack in his crib. As he moved towards Becky, Homelander grabbed Billy's elbow to stop him and leaned in to smell at his neck. Billy gritted his teeth, but kept in place. He'd learned months ago not to fight Homelander. When he did, he was taken away from the twins for a few days. It only took one punishment like that to quail Billy's passion for fighting. Except in bed, but Homeladner liked a little fight there, so that was fine.

"They probably just want to test me," Homelander said, unsure of why exactly he was. All he knew for sure was that he didn't want Billy looking at him with that smirk, ridiculously pleased with himself, as if he knew something about the twins that Homelander didn't.

"Hmm," Billy replied, which was almost hilariously non-committal. That was not normally Billy's style. Usually you could tell what Billy thought- very, _very_ clearly. "Let me bloody pass, Becky's ballin'."

Homelander rolled his eyes but let go of Billy's arm and let him go to Becky. While he changed her diaper (thankfully eliminating the icky smell), Homelander watched him. Silently. Billy was murmuring to the baby, while she looked up at him with wide, blue eyes. The smells that he'd acquihired after the birth were starting to disappear. The babies, who were nearing their six-month birthday, had started breast feeding less and less. Billy still produced milk, but he was starting to produce less and less, and that made that smell weaker.

Homelander was pretty…not pleased by that. Billy's smells had a soothing effect on him that he really liked. When he curled around Billy in bed, he'd burry his nose in his neck and inhale. God, it was amazing. It made his cock twitch to think of the fact that Billy belonged to him, so deeply. That he'd carried his children inside of him and pushed them out of his ass. Billy was _his_, now and forever. Even if they didn't ever fuck again (funny idea. They fucked nearly every day, though Billy wasn't particularly fond of that part of his daily routine), Billy would still be his, because of Becky and Jack.

And the smell-it calmed Homelander down just like it calmed Becky and Jack. Sometimes, during sex, he pushed Billy on his back and sucked on his nipples, sipping in the milk in there. It tasted so good, it made him come immediately.

The thought that he might soon be denied that pleasure was intolerable. He couldn't let it happen, he wouldn't let it happen. If the twins were going to stop breastfeeding, Homelander was going to have to get him pregnant again.

But then he'd have to deal with screaming babies for longer. Jesus, fatherhood was complicated.

Homelander walked over to Billy as he placed Becky back in her crib and caressed her stomach. He wrapped his arms around Billy's waist and pulled his body against his chest, making his Omega freeze and grow rigid.

"We should make another baby," Homelander whispered into Billy's ear. "What do you say, should we take you off suppressants again?"

"No," Billy sneered. "Bloody _fuck_, no."

"Why not?" Homelander whined, kissing Billy's neck. "God, you were so pretty when you were pregnant. So big and round, filled with my babies."

He let one of his hands run down, slipping into Billy's pants. Billy grew even more still as Homelander gently cupped his balls and caressed them with a thumb. Billy's knees started to buckle, but he managed to catch himself just in time.

"And I have to say," Homelander gently bit Billy's ear while Jack started whimpering softly. Billy twitched, trying to move towards their son. But Homelander tightened his hold on his waist and slipped his other hand up to grasp his dick. "That pregnant sex is great sex."

"Let go," Billy said through clenched teeth. "Jackie's ballin', let go."

Getting a bit angry, Homelander grasped Billy's dick so hard he knew it must hurt, though Billy didn't show it, Homelander sneered, "Forget him for now. You're with _me_ now."

"Jack needs me-"

"I need you," Homelander snapped and decided that they really couldn't have a good time in the nursery. He hoisted Billy up and started carrying him out of the large room.

"Let go!" Billy yelped, and Homelander could hear his heart beat speeding up as Jack's crying grew louder and more deperate. "Jack-"

"He'll be fine," Homelander shook Billy a bit and slammed the nursery door closed. He could still hear Jack crying, but he knew Billy couldn't. Weirdly, that just made him struggle harder. Whatever happened to 'out of sight, out of mind'?

"Homelander," Billy tried hitting Homelander's back, which was absolutely _adorable_. Really, what exactly was he hoping to achieve? "Please, please let me go. Please, our son needs me."

"He won't die from being alone for a few hours," Homelander replied, speeding through their rooms in the Vought Tower. Homelander had had them renovated when he brought Billy there, adding a nursery and second bathroom for the kids when they were older (there was no fucking way he was sharing a bathroom with anyone other then his Omega, and that was only because shower sex was a thing). The rest of the rooms had stayed the same. Kids needed their own room, they didn't need the whole area to be changed for them.

Probably. Who the fuck knew. They were still only crawling and almost never left their room, so Homelander would cross that bridge when he got there.

Billy was heaving by the time they got to their bedroom, and as soon as Homelander threw him on the bed, he scrambled up and rushed to the door. Homelander groaned and grabbed his Omega around the waist, throwing him back to the bed and crawling after him.

"Can we not do this today?" He begged, trapping Billy's wrists in one hand and pulled them over his head. "I really don't feel like fighting. Please?"

"Don't want 'nother basin," Billy gasped, twisting under Homelander's hand while Homelander leaned down and started kissing his neck. "Please."

"Why not?" Homelander demanded, tearing away from Billy's neck to glare at him. "You love the twins!"

"Don't want more," Billy said stubbornly. He glared at Homelander and added, "Why'd you want?"

"Your smell," Homelander hummed. "And the milk. They're going to disappear, aren't they? And soon. You said you're going to stop breastfeeding the kiddos."

For a moment, Billy stared at him with wide, shocked eyes, and then spit out, "You fuckin' bloody _creep_."

"That's not nice, baby."

"I ain't havin' a bloody baby for_ that_," Billy sneered.

They looked at each other, and Homelander snorted, "Yeah, yeah you are."

"No, no I ain't."

"Billy, you're really not going to win this fight-"

"I ain't goin' to stop, then," Billy said in a resigned tone of voice.

Homelander frowned and pulled away, "You're not going to stop breastfeeding them?"

"I ain't need to stop," Billy mumbled. "Not really. Just wanted to. I won't, all right? Just…just don't bloody make me do it again. Can't."

Homelander rolled his eyes and said, "It wasn't that bad, Billy. I mean, yeah, I'm sure it hurt like fuck but you got Becky and Jack out of it-"

"And two _died_!" Billy suddenly screamed.

Oh. Right. That. God, Homelander was sick of hearing about that. Every time it was brought up, tears followed. And Billy crying was one of Homelander's least favorite things.

"Ok," Homelander said quickly, before Billy started crying. "Ok. Don't stop breastfeeding the kiddos, and we won't stop the suppressants."

Billy nodded and slumped down.

Though, Homelander knew, this was only a temporary solution. Eventually, Billy would have to stop breastfeeding. The babies would grow. And when that happened, Billy would have no alternative. When that happened, they'd make another baby.

Homelander was going to have a fucking army of mini-Homelanders.

In the meantime, though, he had other things on his mind. Homelander pulled away from Billy and grabbed him, turning him around and picking him up by his waist to his hands and knees.

Billy shivered as Homelander tore his pants in half and shoved them off, along with his underwear, and whispered, "When you're bloody done- I can go to Jackie?"

"Yeah, yeah," Homelander rolled his eyes and ducked in, licking at Billy's opening. God, he tasted amazing. Billy whimpered at the sensation, and it didn't take long before he was hard and nearly leaking, trying desperately to move away from Homelander as he placed two of his fingers inside Billy, using only spit as lube.

He came with Homelander buried deep inside of him, his body surrounding Homelander dick like a fucking_ furnace_. Homelander came three times, until his jizz was spilling out of Billy's, running down his legs. Homelander turned him around and licked the semen off of him in long strips. He liked that taste, the combined taste of his come and Billy's sweat.

"Now, can I go to Jackie?" Billy asked.

Homelander tilted his head, listening. Goddamnit, they were both crying now, and he could hear their stomachs growling.

Huh. It seemed that he'd occupied Billy for longer then he realized.

"Yeah, go shut them up."


	4. Chapter 4

"What happened?" Homelander growled, punching the door open. His heart was pounding, his body shaking with fury.

He could smell the fear in the air as the three doctors rushed after him, following him through the hallways to the private infirmary that was used only for the Seven. The Seven and Homelander's family.

"He starts suffering from cramps a few hours ago, and went into labor," One of the doctors said with a rush. "We tried to stop it-"

"What about the babies?" Homelander interrupted. Billy was only four months into his second pregnancy, so he wasn't hopeful. Fuck, fuck, fuck. It had taken him nearly a year to impregnate Billy again, and now_ this_.

"I-none of them survived," The doctor said.

Homelander grabbed the man by his throat and broke his neck.

The other two doctors stood there in shock, watching their colleague fall to the ground. Homelander wondered for a moment if he should keep them alive, just so he could enjoy watching them pee their pants in fear. But they'd all allowed his babies to die, and allowed Billy's womb to grow empty again (the smell would be gone again, that wonderful smell_. Shit_), and they needed to die.

So he burned them to death before making his way to the private room where Billy was.

He was pale, huddled into a bed, his two ankles cuffed to it, head resting on the pillow and eyes nearly closed. They flew open, though, when Homelander came in, and the look the Omega gave him was beyond hateful. It was loathing.

"Hi," Homelander said softly and moved into the room. "How are you feeling?"

Billy groaned and rubbed his face, "Bloody fuckin' hell, didn't think this day could get bloody worse but havin' you bastard here just ain't fair."

"Charming," Homelander sat down on the bed, rubbing Billy's foot. He could smell death in the air, so he tried to breath only through his mouth.

The two of them stared at each other and then Homelander sighed.

"How many were there?"

Billy turned away from Homelander and snapped, "Why'd you bloody care? One or two or bloody twenty, you'd get the same thin'."

"And I didn't get it," Homelander replied, continuing to caress Billy's foot. It didn't seem to be calming him at all, but it was doing that for Homelander. Touching Billy always calmed him down, soothed the Alpha in him. Having a mate made it so that Homelander really couldn't get the kind of calm out of fucking other people that he got out of fucking Billy. "We'll try again, ok? Next time-"

"Next time, hmm?" Billy snorted, turning to look at Homelander. "You willin' to wait?"

"We're not going to have to wait for a long time," Homelander replied. "We'll just…try harder than we did last time."

But Homelander wasn't sure how they could try harder. They already fucked at least once a day. And a few times, Homelander had gotten Billy pregnant, but none of those pregnancies had made it past the first two months. At least until now. Which was a move in the first direction.

Billy just snorted.

*

"Daddy!"

Homelander groaned and rubbed his eyes, slipping his arm from around Billy's sleeping body and sitting up. God fucking dammit, Becky was awake. Normally, Homelander would just wake Billy to let him know that the kids needed him, if he hadn't woken up on his own (Billy had an eerie ability to tell when the twins needed him). But Billy had just come back from the infirmary, and he looked so pale and tired. Homelander found himself unable to wake him up.

He slipped out of the bed, slowly and carefully, and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. He made his way to the twins' bedroom, finding Jackie sleeping soundly on his king sized Homelander-styled bed, but Becky was awake, rubbing his eyes with her arm, looking like a beautiful princess on her pink bed. She'd asked for a blue one, but Homelander loved her in pink. Besides, blue was for boys, and he already had a boy.

"Papa?" Becky blinked up at him when she saw him, surprised. She wasn't used to seeing him at night, clearly. Well, Billy was the Omega, it was his job to take care of the kids. Homelander just got to enjoy them at their best.

He hoped this wasn't setting a bad precedence.

"Hello there, beautiful," Homelander grinned happily, coming over to sit on the bed next to his daughter. He looked at her for a moment as she crawled near to him. They were nearly three years old now, and he was starting to see what they would look like as adults. Becky looked like Billy, with long black hair and blue eyes. When she smiled, her smiles were slightly cruel. Jackie, though, was just like Homelander himself. Blond and happy, smiling on command. They were getting older, growing personalities, and it was a shame. They weren't like cute dolls anymore. They were like everyone else, now.

They always wanted something from him.

"Where's Daddy?" Becky sniffed as she curled into Homelander's lap. Homelander grit his teeth as he settled down against the headboard. God, he hated it when they did that. They'd given him unconditional love, once, looked up at him with adoration and pure need. Now, though, more often than not, they just wanted Billy. It used to be that he didn't need to spend any time with them, when he came to see them they'd still smile and huddle into his chest. But that hadn't lasted, and soon only Billy was able to get them to stop crying, only Billy was able to get them to eat. When they were being potty trained, and would piss their pants, it was always Billy that they ran to, hiding behind his back and looking from behind him at Homelander, wide eyed as if afraid he'd get mad.

Not that he wanted anything to do with them while they smelled of urine and were _this close_ to crying, but he still didn't like it that they ran away. He hated the feeling that gave him, the clenching inside his gut that he got whenever he saw them looking up at him with those wide eyes.

He was sick of it, he wanted the simpler times back. Some more babies to hold and watch sleep. He'd asked some of the surviving doctors, after seeing Billy back to their rooms, how many babies there had been (he'd stopped himself from hearing their heartbeats or seeing into Billy's stomach during the pregnancy- he wanted to be surprised). And there had been three. A boy and two girls.

He'd gone to see them, the way he had with the dead babies when the twins were born. These ones were so much smaller, and nearly transparent. They barely looked like babies, almost like aliens. It was kind of hard to be sad about their deaths when he couldn't imagine Billy breastfeeding these weird looking things.

"Daddy's sleeping, princess," Homelander told his daughter. "He had a pretty hard day."

"What happened?" Becky yawned, huddling into Homelander with her eyes nearly closing.

Homelander hesitated for a moment, but the kids would find out about the loss sooner or later, so it was probably better it came from him.

"The babies died."

Becky stilled, and looked up at Homelander with wide, wide eyes, "The babies in Daddy's tummy-tumm?"

"Yeah, baby," Homelander replied, looking up at the ceiling and away from his daughter. "All of them."

"But-" Homelander could hear the tears starting to from in Becky's eyes, and was rather taken aback when he realized that his own eyes were getting moist as well. Fuck. "But-but-why?"

"They just did," Homelander replied.

"But you _Homelander_," Becky insisted. "You_ save_ people."

Homelander looked back down at Becky and said sharply, "I do, if I want." He can save whoever he wants, whenever he wants.

"Didn't want?"

"No-" Homelander snapped. What a fucking stupid thing to say. "I wanted-"

"Then why…why not?"

"Because I-" _I couldn't_. He can't make himself say those words, though. He can't make himself admit to that failure. Not to her, not to this beautiful girl who looked so much like his stunning Billy. But he couldn’t lie, either, and tell her that he didn’t want to save the babies. She'd look at him with hatred, like Billy did. And even if they didn’t adore him unquestionably, the twins still looked at him with love. He couldn't lose that.

Becky was still looking at him, waiting for an answer. There wasn't any answer he was willing to give her, though, so instead he picked her up and tucked her under her blanket.

"Just go to sleep," Homelander said.

"But-"

"Go. To. _Sleep_," Homelander snapped, eyes growing red.

Becky's eyes widened, but then her own eyes grew red, and Homelander was hit in the chest by a laser.

Well. That was a first.

*

The thing was, it hurt. The laser ate its way through his shirt and into his chest. He could feel his skin and the bones of his ribcage sizzling as they melted away. Becky had melted a hole right through him, and he was on the floor, gasping for air that he no longer had the body parts to do anything with.

Oddly, he could still think. Not that he was thinking anything worthy of writing home about. Mostly his mind was just screaming to him that his body was ruined, that he was on fire with pain. He'd never felt pain like this before, this-this was destroying him. Destroying his mind. He was dying, he must be dying. There was no way this kind of pain would not end in death-

"Papa?" A small voice whispered, breaking through the horror. It was a strand of gold making its way through the red to touch him. "M'sorry."

Homelander opened his eyes and turned to look at Beck leaning beside him. He could feel his body healing around him, stitching itself together. The pain was burning him, but he could feel something else, something sweet and soft, as Becky's hand came to rest on his forehead.

"Sorry," Becky whispered again, face full of tears. His beautiful, beautiful baby girl. God, she looked exactly like Billy. "Daddy-"

"Get away from him, Becky," Homelander smiled, hearing Billy's frightened voice, and then Becky was taken away from his sight and he heard the two children (they were both crying) being ushered out of the room.

He could hear Billy whispering to the twins, calming them down and then putting them into his and Homelander's bed. Jackie fell asleep nearly right away, but Becky couldn't stop crying, and it took Billy nearly an hour to soothe her.

Just before the girl fell asleep, Homelander heard her mumble, "I killed Papa."

"No, you didn't," Billy replied and then, so low that only Homelander could hear, added, "Bloody unfortunate, that."

Homelander gritted his teeth as he sat up, body back to normal. He looked down at the blood-filled bedroom and tried to reconcile himself to the fact that it was _his_ blood._ His_ blood that had been forced out of _his_ body by _his _daughter's laser. Which was as powerful as his own.

Homelander felt an unease growing inside of him.

They were getting stronger and stronger. Just another reason why they'd been better as babies.

God fucking dammit.


	5. Chapter 5

"It's good to see you," Vogelbaum said softly, looking up at Madelyn. "Even if you're only here because you need my help."

"You sound like an old grandfather who hasn't been visited by his grandkids in a while," Madelyn replied, taking one of the cookies on the plate in front of her. She was sitting with Vogelbaum in his garden, by the fountain overlooking the mansion Vought had bought him for his retirement. She'd made sure his new home was far from New York, thinking that way he'd stay away from the inner workings of Vought. It hard worked; he hadn't asked for anything since then. At least until he started asking for the children.

Vogelbaum snorted, amused, and picked up his cup of tea. He didn’t drink coffee anymore, Madelyn knew, now that he no longer had any reason to stay up for days and nights, "Sometimes I need to act my age. Now, tell me what you think I can do to control John?"

Madelyn didn't even blink, not at all surprised that Vogelbaum had guessed what she wanted to talk to him about. They really didn't have anything in common other then Homelander.

"It's getting worse," Madelyn said sharply. "He refuses to leave Vought Tower for more then a day at a time, he doesn’t do anything Butcher doesn't want him to do. He hasn't been outside of the US for nearly a year now, we're losing our credibility with the army. There are only so many excuses I can make about why Homelander isn't available for their use. And he's saying he isn't going to go to the Believe Expo this year because there's a talk about abstaining until marriage-"

"Because he's not married to Butcher?"

"He tried," Madelyn replied, rolling her eyes. That had been one hell of a week. "He got a priest to his rooms in the Tower and tried to have a fucking wedding ceremony."

"What happened?"

Madelyn snorted, "Butcher wouldn't say 'I do'. So Homelander took him away from the children."

Vogelbaum frowned, "He does that?"

"He used to do it much more often," Madelyn replied. "Not anymore. The children don't like it. When Homelander took Butcher away from the kids that time, Becky lasered the walls and the ceiling. Killed the woman Homelander had put to watch over them."

Vogelbaum raised an eyebrow.

Madelyn added, "Homelander brought Butcher back, after that. Which was good, since Jackie was starting to get agitated as well."

"You told me that he doesn’t have lasers," Vogelbaum frowned.

"He doesn’t, but he's got super-strength," Madelyn replied. Homelander's powers had been divvied up pretty equally between his two children. Becky had lasers, X-ray vision and was bullet proof while Jackie could fly, had superspeed and superstrength, and both of them healed as fast as their father. Which was good, given that one time Becky accidently burned Jackie's arm with her laser while they were wrestling. Madelyn had been there at the time, and Homelander's anger had been…quite terrifying. Butcher had calmed him down, though Madelyn had no fucking idea how. She'd been sure he was going to break that girl's neck, but in the end he just ended up grabbing Butcher and dragging him to bed while Jackie lay sobbing on the ground, slowly healing.

Madelyn had left Homelander's suite quickly after that.

"Right," Vogelbaum clicked his tongue, eyes gleaming with interest.

They looked at one another for a moment and Madelyn said dryly, "I'm not letting you see the children without Homelander's premission. We’ll all end up dead if I do."

"But what do you want me to do, Madelyn? I don't think I have the kind of influence over John needed to convince him to stop listening to his Omega."

"I'm not asking you to do that," Madelyn replied. She sighed and sipped from her orange juice. "Homelander's been trying to get Butcher pregnant for nearly two years, ever since the twins stopped breastfeeding-"

"They stopped breastfeeding when they were two and a half?"

"Butcher stretched it out, he didn't want to have more kids," Madelyn replied, and Vogelbaum hummed, clearly understanding where Madelyn was going with this. "He got pregnant a few times, but lost the babies every time."

"Has he?" Vogelbaum snorted, and then said bluntly, "You think he's purposely causing miscarriages."

"Yeah, I do," Madelyn replied. "He's physically perfect, he got pregnant with Becky and Jackie the first time he and Homelander mated."

"He lost two of the babies at the time, Madelyn," Vogelbaum said quietly.

"He hasn't given birth to any more babies, dead or alive, at least not full term," Madelyn replied, looking at Vogelbaum carefully. "I want you to prove to Homelander that Butcher is doing this. I want you to show him that he can't trust Butcher, not like he can trust you."

"And by extension, you and Vought?"

"Will you do it?"

Vogelbaum nodded, "I'll do it. And I want these children, Madelyn. They're the first second-generation supes, I want them."

*

Vogelbaum can understand it, how Butcher has put John under his thrall. He's a handsome man, but that's hardly important. What's important was the fact that Butcher watched with clear eyes, and followed Vogelbaum with them, never wavering, never looking away. John was a man who needed to be watched, needed to be the center of attention.

But when Butcher watched Vogelbaum, he didn't watch him with fear, or concern, or even any real interest. He just watched because it was safer to watch then not. John needed to be watched, but he also needed to be loved and adored, and Vogelbaum couldn't see the Omega looking at John and giving him either. It would just make John desperate, more and more desperate to win that love and adoration. A desperation that would grow over the years, grow stronger and stronger until he wasn't able to spend more then a day away from his Omega, until he couldn't deny him anything he wanted.

Except letting Butcher and the children out. At least John was smart enough not to allow that to happen. Though Vogelbaum wasn't entirely sure how long that would last. He really needed to intervene.

Butcher was shackled to the hospital bed with cuffs that had comfortable leather around the metal, making sure that Butcher could neither get away nor get hurt if he tried to escape. Not that he was trying, though. He'd been in that situation many times before, clearly. He knew he couldn't get away. He barely made a move, barely bat his eyelashes while Vogelbaum put on his gloves and leaned down between his opened legs.

The examination only took a few minutes. Vogelbaum was more than a bit surprised that none of Butcher's doctors had been able to see the truth. Well, they might have seen it, and chose not to invite John's wrath by pointing out that his Omega had been inserting things into himself in order to bring his pregnancies to an end. He wondered idly why Butcher hadn't done that during the first pregnancy, but then he remembered that during that first pregnancy, John had kept Butcher basically tied up constantly, in order to make sure he didn't do exactly this.

John trusted Butcher more than he did then. Vogelbaum felt unease grow in him, a familiar feeling of guilt worming its way into his gut. He was almost glad to find that there was someone out there in the world that had betrayed John almost as horrifically as he had.

"D'you get what you wanted?" Butcher asked softly as Vogelbaum slipped his gloves off and looked up at him. "You gonna tell him?"

"I have to," Vogelbaum replied, feeling uneasy. "We need him, Vought can't survive with him this distracted-"

"I ain't an idiot," Butcher snapped. "You want me bloody kids."

Vogelbaum shook his head, "They're dangerous, they need to be trained-"

"They ain't dangerous to bloody nobody," Butcher snapped, and then frowned and tilted his head, clearly thinking. "Maybe to Homelander."

Vogelbaum opened his mouth to answer, but Butcher just kept on talking.

"And he ain't even gonna let you near them."

"He might," Vogelbaum said quietly. "Once I let him know what you've done."

But Butcher just shook his head, "It ain't gonna work the way you want it to. You'll see."

"We will," Vogelbaum replied, but as he walked out of the room, he couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy.


	6. Chapter 6

The three of them were all lying together in the large bed where Homelander fucked Billy nearly every night. It was only eight thirty in the evening, but Billy had spent most of the night awake, turning around and around in their bed, not able to stop moving. Homelander had eventually grabbed him and bellowed, "What's wrong?"

Billy had just stared at him, and then had shaken his head, and curled into Homelander's lap. He didn't fall asleep, but he let Homelander hold him for the rest of the night.

So, it was not surprising to find his lover sleeping with their children. Billy was in the middle, one arm slung over the pillow, the other arm curled around Jack, whose head was resting on his Omega parent's shoulder. Jack was holding on to Billy, a single blonde curl resting on his forehead. He looked like the perfect little angel.

Becky was on Billy's other side, curled into herself. Her head was on the pillow, clutching Billy's arm like a teddy bear. The braid Billy had trapped her long hair in, to make it easier for him to brush it in the morning, was now thrown all over the place. She looked less like an angel and more like Billy at his worst, when he was fighting Homelander.

Homelander smirked and walked over to the bed, slipping his gloves off and placing a hand on Billy's forehead. He loved it when the children were in his and Billy's bed. Billy often acted as if he hated everything that went on in their bed, but if he had, he would never let the children in there.

Billy's eyes flew open as soon as Homelander's hand touched his flesh. He stared at Homelander with black hatred in his eyes, and Homelander found himself swallowing.

_God, you're so beautiful_, Homelander thought, and looked down at Billy's stomach.

"Not pregnant," Billy said, entirely calmly, and gently moved Jack's head to the pillow so he could sit up, pushing Homelander's hand off his forehead. "You tried two bloody days ago."

"I'll get the kids to bed," Homelander replied, and picked up Becky, sitting on the bed with the girl in his arms. Becky yawned in her sleep and snuggled close into Homelander's arms, and he looked down at her, feeling warmth curling in his stomach. In her sleep, Becky held on to Homelander as tightly as she used to, as tightly as she still held on to Billy. "And then we can try."

"Homelander," Billy's voice was strained as his fingers went through Jack's blonde strands. "Why'd you want more basins so bloody much? Two kids ain't enough for you?"

"They're fine," Homelander said airily, and leaned over to kiss Billy's forehead. "I like you pregnant."

"But not the basins."

"I like the babies," Homelander replied. "I love them, you know I do."

"You liked them when they were little," Homelander grinned as Billy ducked out of the way and stood up, taking Jack into his arms and glaring at him. "And you don’t like them so much now, ain't that right?"

Homelander frowned, "I don't get it, why don't you want more of them? You love them-"

He was interrupted by the sound of someone buzzing on the doorbell. Billy just kept on glaring at him (he couldn't hear the bell), and then startled when Homelander stood up.

"The doorbell," Homelander said quietly, trying to calm Billy down a bit.

"Right," Billy rolled his eyes. "Who's there?"

Homelander looked up, and then frowned, "Vogelbaum."

Immediately, Billy's heart started thumping, faster and faster and faster.

Homelander took a step towards Billy, "What's wrong?"

"Ain't nothin' wrong," Billy mumbled, but that was such a blatant lie that Homelander really didn't know what to do with it. "Let's get Jackie and Becky into bed."

"Vogelbaum-"

"The bloody hell you need from him?" Billy sneered. "Help me get the lad and lass into bed-"

"Billy, what's wrong?" Homelander demanded, a bit worried.

But before Billy could reply (though Homelander very much doubted he would), Homelander heard Vogelbaum called out, "John. I need to talk to you, please let me in."

Billy was shaking his head, silently begging Homelander not to leave. It was odd, Homelander had never seen him like this.

"It's about your Omega, John. Let me in."

Homelander narrowed his eyes, and moved to the door.

*

Vogelbaum took a deep breath as the door opened and John appeared. He wasn't sure why, but he was feeling incredibly uncomfortable. He shouldn't have been. He should have been excited, given the fact that he was about to disenchant Homelander from his Omega, and return him to his place as Vought's best weapon. And he would be given the children. He would do a better job with them then he did with John himself.

He was about to get his second chance.

So, why was he so scared?

"Doctor," John said as he threw the door open, and moved to allow Vogelbaum in. "What are you doing here?"

Vogelbaum cleared his throat as he walked in, looking around. Jonh's rooms looked…. like a family home. Messy and full of toys and children's books. It was so unlike what Vogelbaum had expected that he was rather taken aback. He thought about what Butcher had said, that telling Homelander that he was killing their babies in the womb wouldn't end up the way he wanted it to. But looking around, he couldn't see how that would be true. Clearly, John enjoyed having children around. They clearly brought him some form of happiness. How could he not be furious at Butcher for taking away the ability to have more of them?

"What can I do for you," John said flatly, not even bothering to put a question mark at the end of the sentence, and sat down on one of the sofas.

"We need to talk. Maybe we should go somewhere-"

"You said you wanted to talk about Billy," John interrupted, watching Vogelbaum. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Is he here?"

"Of course he's fucking here," John snorted. "He doesn’t go anywhere except the infirmary. Ah, there he is."

Vogelbaum startled, looking up to see Butcher leaning against the doorframe, watching him closely.

"It ain't gonna end the way you want," Billy said softly. But Vogelbaum could tell that he was worried as well. As though he wasn't as sure in John's reaction as he wanted Vogelbaum to think.

"What isn't going to end the way you want?" John asked, suspicious, as he stood up. "What's going on?"

Vogelbaum took a deep breath, "John-"

"If you fucking ask me again to leave, I'm going to blow your fucking head off," John sneered, eyes turning red. "_Tell me why you're here_."

Vogelbaum swallowed, eyes moving to Butcher, who shrugged, as if to say, _whatever you want to do_.

He decided the only thing to do would be to tell John.

"Butcher has been causing himself miscarriages."

*

_Butcher has been causing himself miscarriages. Butcher has been causing himself miscarriages. Butcher has been causing himself miscarriages. _

Again and again, the words went through his mind. _Butcher has been causing himself miscarriages_. But he couldn't understand it, no matter how many times he thought it.

_Butcher has been causing himself miscarriages_, Vogelbaum had said. Billy has made himself lose their children.

No.

He was lying.

Billy wouldn't.

"Why the fuck would you even say that?" Homelander whispered. "Are you trying to get me angry at him? Why would you want that?"

"I'm not lying," Vogelbaum said. "I'm sorry, but it's true."

No.

It wasn't.

Billy wouldn't.

He wouldn't.

"Billy," Homelander turned his head, to Billy. Billy would tell him that wasn't true, his Billy would tug him close and hold him. He'd allow Homelander to pull his legs apart, pushing into him. "Billy…"

Billy shook his head, taking a step backwards.

No. No.

"John, I'm sorry, but you need to know about this," Vogelbaum said, and Homelander could not believe he was speaking at the moment.

"Tell me you didn't," Homelander begged Billy. "Please."

"You need to send him away. He's been betraying you, John. Listen to me-"

"Did you?" Homelander begged. "Tell me."

"Yes," Billy whispered. "I did."

"John-"

Homelander turned and lasered Vogelbaum's head off.

*

Homelander turned away from the body on the floor, to look at Billy. His Omega looked up at him, and there was a darkness in those beautiful blue eyes.

For the first time, Homelander could see it. He could imagine Billy killing their babies.

"You really did it, didn't you?"

"Yes," Billy replied, his heart pumping hard and fast. Thump-thump-thump.

"I love you," Homelander said quietly, looking at Billy. "I love you so, so much. But you…you hated me, don't you?"

Billy's eyes were red and tears were rushing down his cheeks.

"Why did you do it?" Homelander whispered. "Why do you hate me so much?"

"How the bloody hell could you ask me that?" Billy asked, voice just as soft as Homelander's. "You've kept my here for years, you've robbed my basins of their bloody childhoods. I hate you as much as I love Rebecca and Jack."

Billy never called Becky Rebecca. Not in front of Homelander, at least.

He really didn't care anymore.

"I love you," Homelander held Billy's neck and pulled him close. "But you know I have to kill you now, don't you?"

"I know you're gonna bloody try," Billy replied, and took a deep breath. "It ain't gonna work for you."

"Wha-"

There was a gust of wind and then Homelander found himself flying, landing on the ground and crushing. He gasped, looking up to see his son- his son!- standing protectively over Billy. Behind the Omega, Homelander could see Becky, and that made more sense.

She was named after Rebecca. But Jack was supposed to be Homelander's.

"Don't hurt Daddy," Jack pleaded. "Why's you want to hurt Daddy?"

"Jack," Homelander gritted his teeth together, standing up. "Move."

"But you said!" Becky cried from behind Billy. "You said you'd kill Daddy!"

"Yes! Because the two of you would have been dead if your _Daddy_ had his way!" Why did they love their father so much? Why did they love _him _so little?

Why did everyone love him so little?

"I'm going to kill you," Homelander informed his darling Billy. "I'm going to destroy you, and then the twins will love me-"

And then Becky (Rebecca- Billy had named her Rebecca), lasered him.

*

"I'm sorry," Billy whispered into his ear, and then there was a hand in his hair, caressing it. Homelander opened his eyes, and looked at the man he had lived with for the past few years. The man he'd held at night, the man who'd bourn his children.

He looked into Billy's eyes as he died, and realized that there was no longer any hatred in them.

"I'll take care of them," Billy told him, and Homelander closed his eyes for the last time.

Billy didn't hate him.

Everything went dark.


	7. Epilogue

"Marvin."

MM mumbles and buries his head into his pillow, getting back to his dream. It had been so nice, about him taking a long bath-

"Marvin!"

"What!" MM jumps up, looking wildly around. "What happened!"

"Someone's knocking," His wife hisses, and immediately afterwards the pounding of the door downstairs makes both of them jump.

Exchanging a nervous glance, the couple each grab one of the guns by the nightstands. Monique had called him paranoid when he bought them years ago, but it's not paranoia if they're really fucking after you. And it's been six years since he saw any of the other boys, but he knows better then to think that Vought isn't after him anymore. Isn't just waiting for an excuse to get him and the rest of his team.

MM nods at his wife to take position on the side of the door and calls out, "Who is it?"

"MM. Open up, you cunt."

It can't be…

"Billy?"

"No. a different fucking cockney cunt. Open the bloody door."

"Fuck," MM whispers.

"Ask him what he wants," Monique whispers back, chewing her lip. "I don't trust him."

"Daddy's good!" A child's voice calls out. "Why don't you trust my daddy?"

Marvin and Monique's eyes both grow wide. It's a _child_, a child who can hear them.

A fucking supe child who called Billy_ daddy_.

MM opens the door.

Well. Not a child. Three children. A boy and a girl, around five years old, who are clutching at Billy's leather jacket. They look dirty, and the boy needs a haircut. The third one is a new born baby-he/she can't be older than a month old, if that, and is cradled carefully in one of Billy's arms while the other holds a large duffel bag.

Oh, fuck.

"Oh my god," Monique whispers.

She gets past the shock much quicker than MM, and herds the children and Billy into the house, closing the door behind them. There's a flurry of activity after that, and MM watches in stunned silence as Monique and Billy place the older children in the large bed in the guest room and the children tumble into sleep immediately. Monique offers to hold the baby for Billy so he can take a shower, but Billy holds the child to him and refuses.

"Monique," MM finally manages to speak. "I think Billy and I should talk."

God bless her, Monique just nods and says, "I'm going to go look for some clean clothes for all of you," before leaving Billy and MM alone in the guest bedroom.

Billy collapses into the bed, in between his two sleeping children, and puts the baby on the mattress between his legs.

The child makes an angry noise at being put down, but Billy clicks his tongue and caresses the child's belly, saying, "We ain't go time for that, aye? You'll waste the twins up."

The baby blinks and calms down.

MM takes a deep breath-

"Go ahead," Billy says dryly, keeping his eyes on his child. "Ask."

"All right. Who's the alpha parent?"

He's pretty sure he's one of the only people in the world that knows about Billy's Omega status. He'd told him a few years after they met, before the death of Grace's grandchildren split them up. He'd said it was because he needed to make sure someone could help him get suppressants if he ever ran out, but MM had taken it as a sign of trust the likes of which he'd never seen from Billy before or since.

"Homelander."

"Oh, fuck," MM groans. That's the worst fucking answer. "He-he-"

"Yeah," Billy makes a face at the baby, making the child coo in pleasure and waves it's hands around. Billy doesn’t smell like he's just given birth. He must be on suppressants again, and the flat chest tells MM that he hasn't been breastfeeding. He's a bit surprised-breastfeeding when you're on the run is much more practical, and Billy is nothing if not used to using everything in his disposal to make life easier.

MM rubs his face, "Shit. Fuck. I'm sorry-"

"It don't matter no more. Bastard's dead. Me Becky killed him."

"Becca-"

"Me daughter," Billy motions to the sleeping girl next to him. "Lasered him."

MM raises an eyebrow, "Your daughter is fucking powerful, then."

"They all are," Billy replies.

It's hard to imagine how the angelic looking children sleeping on the bed could possibly be so powerful. It's unnerving.

"What are their names?"

"Rebecca, Jack," Billy points at the twins and then motions at the baby. "And Ryan."

His expression softens.

"Becca always wanted to name her son Ryan," He looks at MM and his expression hardens again. "I need your help."

"I-yeah, of course. Anything."

"I need fake passports, to get to England. Got friends there that can hide us, but I can't contact Frenchie."

"I know where Frenchie is. We'll get you the passports," MM replies. Then he hesitates and adds, "Homelander hasn't been seen for nearly a year, so I'm guessing that's when your daughter killed him-" Vought had been saying he was on a long-term mission in the Middle East- "Why didn’t you come to me earlier?"

"Vought's after us, they want me babies. It ain't safe for no one to help us, didn’t want to put you on their shit list."

MM groans, "Right. Well, thanks for the restraint then, fucker."

Billy grins, a bit crazy, very annoying, and MM finally fells that he has his fucking nightmare of a best friend back.

*

"Be careful," MM begs a few days later, as he and Billy stand at the runaway next to the plane about to take the Butchers to England. The twins are already on the plane, running around.

Billy snorts, shifting Ryan in his arms, "We’ll be fine."

"Yeah, at least we know that if someone tries to hurt you your kids will kill them," MM mumbles.

Jack sticks his head out of the plane door and yells, "We won't kill, Daddy says it's bad!"

MM rolls his eyes, "You need to teach these kids not to eavesdrop."

"Workin' on it," Billy replies. "Right, gotta go. I'll let you know when we get there."

MM hesitates for a moment, and then grabs Billy and pulls him into a hug.

"All right, all right, let go," Billy shoves him away. "See you."

"Goodbye, Billy. Good luck."

He stands by the side, watching as Billy gets into the plane, and Jack jumps at him, making Billy raise his son into his arm. He keeps watching as the plane flies into the air and disappears.

Fuck, he hopes he never has to see his friend again.


End file.
